It's Not You, It's Me.

Dear Teaching,

We've been in a relationship now for four years. We dated casually in college, and then I decided to commit when I took my job in New Orleans. You've been a major part of my adult life. Yesterday was the last day of the school year, and you know what?

We need a break.

Listen, teaching, it's been great. We've had some good times. You have given me the opportunity to work with over 150 third graders over the past four years. They - and you - have brought me more joy and fulfillment than I could have imagined. The adorably misspelled cards and awkwardly drawn pictures I have upstairs in my den are possessions I will cherish for eternity. I am grateful every day for having had the opportunity to mean something to such wonderful kids and their families.

Here's the thing though: our relationship has changed this year. My life has thrown me into a lot of "new"s - new state, new marriage, new school, new friends - and it's just not working out with you anymore. It's not you, it's me. I've got to get my head on straighter and re-prioritize.

Well... it's also a little bit you, though. Teaching, you are one of the most stressful occupations out there. You require me to spend almost all of my time and a good chunk of my money on you. That was cool for a while, but I'm pretty over dealing with paperwork, pacing guides, and testing. I'm a little burned out, and I just need a change for a while.

Another reason we need a break is that I'm really trying to focus on my career right now. Teaching is great, but I'm interested in expanding into other areas too. I'd really like to explore working in arts integration or museum education, and I can't do that if I'm stuck with you all the time. I would love to work at a school being the arts integration facilitator, or be an education curator for a museum, or work for a nonprofit that brings the arts into schools... there are so many possibilities, and I can't find them all out until I get some space.

Look, this isn't a permanent breakup. I know in my heart that you're the job I'm supposed to be with for the long haul. But some of the best information I got from a coworker this year was this: when I asked how he'd managed to stay so passionate about teaching for 30something years, he told me it was because he never taught for more than a few years at a time. When he got burned out, he went and did something else for a while. It's enabled him to stay enthusiastic, engaged, and excited about teaching for longer than I've been alive. I know that if I stick around a few more years feeling the way I've felt this year, that will be it for us. And I don't want that to happen.

Sure, I'm nervous about the future. This is the first time I'm ending one phase of my life without knowing what the next phase will hold. I'm more than nervous, actually. I'm flat-out scared.

But that fear is also sort of weirdly exhilarating. I know that if Hubs and I had stayed in New Orleans, I'd probably still be very happy with you at my old job. But I'm not there, I'm here - and the fact is I need something else right now, something you can't give me. I don't know what that is at the moment, but maybe the not knowing itself is it.

So take care of yourself, teaching. Don't let those budget cuts and state standards get you down. Until we meet again, in another classroom down the road, know that you're the love of my life.

Sincerely,
me

Check out how professional I am!

I'm so excited to be journeying into the wide world of professional teacher-authors!

As any elementary teacher knows, you end up spending many a night culling through the crap on the internet looking for activities and materials for your lessons so you don't have to create everything yourself or buy expensive books.  Enter teacherspayteachers.com, a website where teachers can buy and sell materials they've made directly to one another. It's great! You can find so many great resources without spending a ton of money... many items are even free!

My thought about it had been, "God love ya, teacher-authors on TpT - who the heck has time to make stuff that's cute enough to sell to other people?" But as I began to think about it, and look more at the things you can get on the site - I figured I might as well try it.

We are working on generalizing in reading right now, and I was having trouble finding good ideas and lessons for it. I came up with an idea and created my own generalization cards and lessons... so I figured why not put it up on the site as a free item, just to see?

I went ahead and posted it Sunday - and so far 23 people have downloaded it! It was so cool!

I had a little free time tonight (more on that later), so I jazzed up a math game I used today and JUST posted it. I'm starting low - $1 - but hopefully I can make some free money from it. I've read that teachers who really put a lot up, and do a great job, can make thousands of extra dollars a year. (I don't know that I'll be doing it to quite that level... but I make enough of my own stuff that it's worth posting it.)

Check out my "store"!!

On another note... I'm off to pack for my trip home to New Orleans tomorrow. It's been a long time since I took two days off of school in a row, and as always, prepping for the sub was a lot of work. Luckily, though, she was subbing for another teacher today and came by after school to meet me, see my classroom, and ask me questions. I hope my class doesn't eat her alive... she seemed pretty nice.

Honestly, though - at this point I don't care! I am going home for a wedding Hubs is in, and I could not be more excited. The part I'm possibly looking forward to the most is visiting my old school on Friday. It's hard being in a new school where none of the older kids know you. I miss my kiddos so much... I hope it's not overly disruptive when I barge in Friday morning. Luckily many of the 4th and 5th grade teachers are friends of mine :)

Have a great rest of your week - and if you're a teacher and working on geometry, check out my game! I'm super professional and awesome!

He Came, He Saw, They Asked

Friday was something of a rough day, following a particularly rough week. Not getting into it, but it's the starting point for my story.

I was checking facebook on my phone during my 12 minutes of freedom lunch break, and I noticed one of Hubs' co-interns had posted about some sort of surprise day off. I texted Hubs to ask whether he too had a day off, but he did not respond. I found out later from another intern wife/teacher that all the interns were apparently partying because Duke had given them the annual "Interns Day Off". (We commiserated about the lack of "teachers day off," although I suppose you could argue that would be "summer.")

Anyway, I was a little annoyed that, knowing what a bad morning I had had, Hubs couldn't even be bothered to take a break from his much-needed fun to text me back. I'm complaining about this during recess to my teammates, when what do I see?

Yup. Hubs coming up from the parking lot, flowers in hand, to visit me at school.

That's right. I suck as a wife.

Anyway, my class was pretty excited to meet him, so instead of our usual post-recess read aloud time, we had "Q&A with Dr. Hubs." Often as a teacher, you are so used to kids saying and asking ridiculous things that you don't even notice it anymore. Hubs, however, was greatly amused by what they had to ask:

-What is your favorite color? (Why do all kids want to know about favorite colors?)

-What kind of doctor are you?

-What year did you marry Mrs. Davis?

-Are you from New Orleans too? (Can you tell we've been discussing Mardi Gras extensively as part of my homesickness social studies curriculum?)

-Have you ever seen anybody die right in front of you?

-We thought you'd be taller. (Sweetie, that's a comment, not a question...)

And finally...

-Do you and Mrs. Davis need some privacy time in the hallway before you leave?